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Topic: Best solution for really shaky hands (Read 17194 times)

My wife has very shaky hands in all the time and she has a tough time getting good pictures on a P&S. She needs a new camera, and likes it to be small enough and light enough to fit in her purse. I am thinking that it would be wise to get something with a f/2 lens to get faster shutter speeds to eliminate blur. Anyone have any suggestions, Canon or not? Looking to keep it under $400

One of the reasons that DSLR's are shaped the way they are is to fit into your hand. Most p/s cameras (with the exception of a few that look like mini dslr's) are boxes that are hard to hold steady and are hard to press the shutter without shaking the camera.

I know they are not the most compact, but that mini-dslr look form factor might be the way to go. IS can only accomplish so much, an easier to hold camera may be a better idea in this case.

In my case the solution in question is usually hot water, coffee grounds, milk and sugar...

Seriously though for your wife why not make a support device that would rest against her sternum and curve up to a screw for the camera? The shape would make for a comfortable grip with her left hand and leave her right hand free to operate the buttons.

Go to the shop and ask her to try out the Panasonic LX-7, under $400. It has fast lens, fast AF and VERY effective IS. Picture quality is a cut above most P & S except the larger sensor one like Sony RX 100. Unfortunately, RX100 is hard to hold and in the expensive side, most of the Canon P & S have SLOW AF.

More seriously- If you don't want a monopod, f/2 means more that $400. You might get a used Fuji X100 for around $600 - $650. This is at the upper end of fitting in a handbag but it's a really nice camera.

Alternatively, if you're after something with zoom, look for a combination with an effective IS (but you're looking at a lot more money too.) Be aware that a $100 lens will not get you 4 stops of image stabilisation.

Consider a camera with a viewfinder; when she has the viewfinder pressed against her eye, she has 3 instead of 2 points of contacts; so better stability.

In general a somewhat heavier camera is more easy to keep still.

+1

Aside from the obvious (image stabilization), these two suggestions plus good high ISO performance will make the biggest difference, imo. In my experience with shaky hands (yup, I've got em too), good ISO performance is the most helpful because it allows me to use faster shutter speeds in low light.

But it might be challenging to find all of these features in a sub-$400 camera.

+2 on the viewfinder suggestion. Think about it - with most P/S cameras you are holding them almost at arm's length! Something with even a simple optical viewfinder would help stabilize the camera considerably. But, yeah, they are hard to find and not inexpensive.

My first suggestion would be a monopod - it doubles as a club for when you get out of line. A $1 alternative is one of these .... $1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera - Lose The Tripod/Monopod[/url] - I find this works quite well. ...

+1 to the monopod and +1 and an "I'm going to make one of those" for the $1 alternative. (I'll do a lashing too since since I'm an Eagle Scout as well.)